Use of media-rich real-time collaboration tools for learning and teaching in Australian and New Zealand universities.

This paper provides an overview of media-rich real-time collaboration tool use for learning andteaching in Australian and New Zealand universities. These tools, which include videoconferencing tools, web conferencing tools and virtual worlds, afford students and teachers theability to synchronously represent concepts, and enable them to interact with one another to negotiate meaning and develop a sense of connectedness. A survey of 750 higher educatorsrevealed that while desktop video conferencing and web conferencing use display an upwardtrend, virtual worlds are being used by substantially fewer educators, and have recently begun toexperience a decline in usage. There are four major web conferencing products being used,whereas desktop video conferencing and virtual worlds are each being dominated by a singleproduct. The 'best' uses of each technology as perceived by respondents with experience in arange of tools are examined, before the paper concludes with a discussion of implications for tertiary learning and teaching, along with an outline of the authors' future plans.